At 04:42 PM 6/30/97 -5, you wrote:

>This is an interesting issue because Mike Jensen recently pointed out
>to me that a couple of national domain names have been "captured" by
>outsiders.  Was Congo Brazza one of them?  I can't remember.

FYI...

At http://www.nytimes.com:

"Move Over '.com'! There's a Whole World of Good Domain Names."

          By JAMIE MURPHY and CHARLES HOFACKER

        "...The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, cyberspace's post office,
activates a country's top-level domain when the necessary computers are
online. And, if there's an administrative contact in the country.

          Those conditions have "led to some amusing Catch-22's," quipped
Anthony Van Couverin, president of NetNames USA, a Manhattan company
specializing in registering domain names. The Cocos (Keeling) Islands,
".cc," "is still unassigned because the Cocos are an environmental
sanctuary and it is by law uninhabited," he said.

        Burundi (".bi,"), Congo (".cg") Rwanda (".rw") and Zaire (".zr") are
"shelling each other on the ground, but their domains, all run by the same
guy in Paris, are doing a bang-up business: $350 for the first year, $260
per year after that," continued Van Couverin.

Once a domain is activated, each country sets the rules for doling out
names, such as fees, who can register, what they can register, and how to
register.

Minimum costs range from nothing to $1,000. About two thirds of the
countries and territories limit registration to their citizens. Some
countries honor trademarks, and registration procedures range from filling
out a Web-based form to board approval, which is required in Japan (".jp")..."

-Kerry


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Kerry Gallivan                                 [log in to unmask]
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